Darfuri sent back by UK says he was tortured

The most serious evidence yet that Darfur refugees are being tortured on being returned to Khartoum from Britain has emerged after a Darfuri man, who says he was beaten over several days, managed to escape from Sudan and tell his story.

Sadiq Adem Osman was deported to Khartoum in February after his application for asylum in the UK was refused. Mr Osman, who is in hiding in another African country after being assisted by a genocide prevention charity, the Aegis Trust, tells in shocking detail how he was allegedly tortured to within an inch of his life.

"They just beat me everywhere. My whole body was numb so I couldn't feel anything any more," Mr Osman says in a report tonight on Channel 4 News. "I was completely soaked in blood, and the room was covered with my faeces and urine. I was expecting to die, I never thought I would be alive now."

For two years the Home Office has returned Darfuri asylum seekers despite warnings from the UN and human rights organisations. Campaigners say it is rare for stories such as this to emerge as it has been difficult to trace Darfuris sent back to Khartoum and some have simply disappeared. Mr Osman fled Darfur in 2004 after his village was attacked by the government-backed Janjaweed Arab militia, killing his mother and a brother.

Confronted with video evidence of Mr Osman's claims, Sudan's ambassador to Britain, Omer Siddig, said: "I cannot deny and I cannot confirm ... with these scars he definitely has a good case and he can pursue it through the legal system."

Inigo Gilmore's film about Sadiq Osman will be broadcast tonight on Channel 4 News, beginning at 7pm.